Specialists Speaking

As I write this on Sept. 5, the cotton crop in North Carolina is variable but generally good in many parts of the state. Yield potential among fields varies significantly and within a close proximity, depending on planting date, severity of drought stress during late June and early July, and rainfall that occurred during the latter half of the bloom ... Read More »

After some mid- and late-season pest issues (lygus, mites), and a rough summer with high temperatures, most cotton fields still look relatively good going into boll maturation. Late plantings and fields that sustained a lot of early to mid-season lygus losses have top crops that will be important to attaining decent yields. They will need to be irrigated later than ... Read More »

This has been an unusual cotton-growing season with rain since the middle of May and often little time to get into the field to manage the crop. However, most growers got the weeds under control and were able to apply sidedress nitrogen when needed. The crop is growing well and looks promising at this point. Cotton is blooming and fruiting ... Read More »

By mid-June, we reached a critical time for our cotton crop in terms of preserving yield potential as a result of moisture stress. This is not the norm for Arkansas. Some fields continued to produce nodes close to what was expected. However, many fields of all ages across the state exhibited a big slowdown in node production, indicating the need ... Read More »

Very little cotton was planted in April this season in Arkansas. Most of our April cotton was planted the last two or three days of the month when planting conditions went from poor to very good. They continued to be very good through May. The first 40 days in the life of a cotton plant sets the foundation for yield ... Read More »

Changing weather patterns have again shaken up the 2018 planting season in the San Joaquin Valley. The good news is we finally got some rain and snowpack in the late winter and very early spring, along with promise of at least a little more irrigation water. The uncertain news includes delays in getting some fields planted due to cool, wet ... Read More »

As we move into spring, there appears to be widespread optimism for cotton in North Carolina. The 2017 season was successful for most growers, and with the new program and higher prices, the outlook for cotton is strong. With that said, we all remember the lessons learned from the challenges of recent years, one of which is how to plant ... Read More »